Members of the Class of 2018 (from left) Brian Dawkins and Robert Brazile and Bobby Beathard and Jerry Kramer and Randy Moss and Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher pose during the Enshrinee's gold jacket dinner on Aug. 3, 2018, at the Canton Civic Center.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

WAUSAU - The founders of the Never Forgotten Honor Flight have given nearly 3,000 area veterans trips of their lifetimes.

But last weekend, Mike Thompson and Jim Campbell got one of their own, thanks to Green Bay Packers great Jerry Kramer. Kramer, who accompanied a Never Forgotten Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., in May 2017, provided to Thompson and Campbell VIP passes to his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony held Saturday in Canton, Ohio.

Thompson and Campbell banded together in 2009 to form the Wausau-based nonprofit organization that jets veterans from World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War eras to D.C. to visit the war memorials built in their honor. Since it began, Honor Flight has taken 2,935 veterans on the trip.

Kramer, who played offensive line for the Packers for 11 seasons during the Lombardi era, said in 2017 he wanted to support the Honor Flight in part to pay tribute to Vietnam War veterans, who collectively were not welcomed home, or faced outright hostility, by an American public angry about the war.

"I saw this an attempt to ease some of the pain for some of the Vietnam veterans. I thought maybe this could heal things a little bit," Kramer said.

Former Green Bay Packers guard Jerry Kramer is being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Sarah Kloepping, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

Both Campbell and Thompson got to know Kramer through the flight and its planning. When the news broke about Kramer being elected into the Hall, Thompson immediately wanted to make arrangements to go.

But after checking out the costs, Campbell opted out. But then the Kramer family sent an invitation to the two Honor Flight organizers, Campbell said, that lowered the costs considerably.

"I said, 'Let's go,'" Campbell said.

The two met up with Al Bailey, a Vietnam veteran who is on the board of the directors of the original Honor Flight, and who helped Thompson and Campbell launch the central Wisconsin-based Never Forgotten Honor Flight. The three were able to go to a private Packers party where they met legends such as Paul Hornung, Frank Winters and James Lofton.

Kramer was such a gracious person, Campbell said, both on the Honor Flight and at the Hall of Fame party.

"We presented Jerry with his very own custom (Honor Flight) T-shirt," Campbell said. "He is like your next-door neighbor, your uncle. It's like you knew him your whole life."

To learn more about Never Forgotten Honor Flight, visit neverforgottenhonorflight.com.